All Blogs
Sri Lanka interest rates up on heavy government borrowing
June 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 3-month risk free yields gained 15 basis points at the latest treasuries auction, while a ministerial decision to fix electricity and fuel prices announced this week threatens to send rates higher. . The average bids accepted for the 3-month bill rose to 17.09 percent, while 6-month bills edged […]
Wrong List
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2007 (AFP) – US Middle East allies Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, as well as key trading partner Malaysia were added Tuesday to a Washington blacklist of countries trafficking in people.Algeria and Guinea were the other additions to the blacklist of the US State Department’s annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” which analyzed […]
Sri Lankan defence official slams West over rights outcry
COLOMBO, June 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top defence official has accused Western nations of bullying his government over human rights and defended the eviction of ethnic Tamils from the capital, a report said Wednesday.Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse also rejected warnings from Britain that the former colony risked international isolation over the deteriorating rights […]
Sri Lanka economy slows in first quarter as expansionary stimulus wears off
June 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy slowed sharply to 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2007 from 7.9 percent last year, as the conflict began to take its toll and the effects of an expansionary stimulus wore off. The government’s statistics office said this compared with gross domestic product (GDP) growth of […]
Metro Dreams
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should switch to mass urban transport to combat traffic congestion, and start a powerful umbrella organization to implement projects, a Sri Lankan-born professional heading a big US transport utility has advocated.The island should also build concrete roads, said Walter Wickramasinghe, Vice President and Director of Management of Metropolitan […]
Capital Change
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – A controlling stake in the listed financial firm, Asia Capital was bought by a consortium led by Asia Fort Asset Managment, with two foreign funds selling out Tuesday, an official said. Two foreign funds, Rockport and Sezeka sold out with a consortium led by Asia Fort Asset Management buying the […]
Singled Out
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should widen its tax base and practice fiscal discipline instead of heavily taxing a few sectors like the financial sector, and have a formal taxation commission to devise a medium-term tax policy, a top bank has said. While Sri Lanka’s tax collections as a percentage of gross domestic […]
Medical Thrust
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – The Hemas group is pushing into the hospital sector with a 2.5 billion rupee investment though bottom line growth this year has been hit by a higher taxs, officials said. The group’s 100 bed hospital in Wattala, off Colombo, is expected to be operational by August 2008, while a newly […]
” after Ford disappointment
NEW DELHI, June 12, 2007 (AFP) – India’s cricket chiefs on Tuesday appointed former player Chandu Borde the manager-cum coach of the national team for the upcoming tours of Ireland, Scotland and England. The veteran, who turns 73 next month, was given charge of Rahul Dravid’s side a day after South African Graham Ford turned […]
Woolmer died of natural causes: Jamaican police
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, June 12, 2007 (AFP) – Former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was not murdered but died of natural causes, Jamaican police said in a bombshell announcement Tuesday nearly three months after his death during the World Cup tournament.After first treating Woolmer’s death by asphyxiation as homicide, sparking feverish speculation about the malign […]